Wearable technology

Been noticing more jogging stats and maps running through your Facebook and Twitter feeds? It's not just you. And there's way more happening in wearable tech right now than just the Fitbit and Nike FuelBand.

At the Technosensual exhibition in Vienna earlier this year, models sashayed down the runway in clothing rigged with sensors, speakers, and LEDs. Fashion of the future? Maybe, but hitting the street decked out in wearable tech has never been more today.

Been noticing more jogging stats and maps running through your Facebook and Twitter feeds? Pedometer-style devices like the Fitbit Zip and Nike FuelBand kicked up the social this year, making it easy for users to share exercise data. The new Jawbone Up, meanwhile, added a feature that lets wearers find friends with Up accounts and invite them to join their team. A real-time social feed on the home screen tracks team performance.

Underscoring the big buzz around wearable fitness-tracking gear, the Pebble Smart Watch this year raised more than $8 million in just 15 days, shattering the previous fundraising record for the crowdfunding platform. As fast as wearable gadgets are racing along, however, we wouldn't advise going running in Google Glasses -- just yet.

About the author

Leslie Katz, Crave's senior editor, heads up a team that covers the most crushworthy (and wackiest) tech, science, and culture around. As a co-host of the now-retired CNET News Daily Podcast, she was sometimes known to channel Terry Gross and still uses her trained "podcast voice" to bully the speech recognition software on automated customer service lines. E-mail Leslie.
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